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Pac-12 announces weekly baseball honors

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — STANFORD first baseman Danny Diekroeger has been named Pac-12 Player of the Week and USC right-handed pitcher Wyatt Strahan has been tabbed Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for April 14-20, the Conference office announced Monday.

Diekroeger, a Woodside, Calif. native, propelled the Cardinal to a 3-1 record this week, including a huge Conference series win over No. 27 Arizona State at home over the weekend. The senior recorded back-to-back walk-off game-winning hits to beat Saint Mary’s on Tuesday and Arizona State on Thursday in the series opener. His solo home run in the series finale against the Sun Devils on Saturday gave the Cardinal a 1-0 win and secured the series victory. The first baseman collected a team-best seven hits in four games while all three of his RBI this week were game-winners.

This is Diekroeger’s first-career Pac-12 Player of the Week honor and Stanford’s 70th all-time selection. He is also the first player to earn a weekly honor for the Cardinal in 2014.

Strahan, a junior from Villa Park, Calif., threw his first-career complete game shutout on Thursday in a 1-0 win over Arizona, who entered the weekend as the top-hitting team in the Conference. The right-hander held the Wildcats to just five hits through nine innings while striking out eight and walking just two. After allowing four hits through the first three frames, Strahan faced the minimum number of batters from the fourth through seventh innings before allowing his final hit of the day in the top of the eighth. His performance set the Trojans up for their first Pac-12 series sweep since 2009 and their first sweep over Arizona since 2001.

Strahan picks up his first-career Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week nod and the 64th overall for the Trojans. He is also the first USC pitcher to earn the award this season.

The Cardinal will play a pair of midweek non-conference games at Santa Clara on Tuesday and at St. Mary’s (California) before hosting Bay Area rival California for a three-game series from Friday-Sunday. Sunday’s series finale will air live on Pac-12 Networks at 2 p.m. PT. USC will host Hawaii on Tuesday night for a non-conference contest and then head across town to face rival UCLA in a three-game tilt from Thursday-Saturday. Both Thursday and Friday night’s games will air live on the Pac-12 Networks. The series kicks off Thursday at 6 p.m. PT.